A motion calling for the display of the American and Massachusetts flags sparked debate within the Senate and went on to cause a physical fight at last night’s Student Government Association Diversity committee meeting.
The fight broke out between former Senator and Republican club member Patrick DeCourcy and Secretary of Finance Gabriel Tavares over the issue of respect at the meeting.
The clash occurred when DeCourcy interrupted the Diversity committee’s meeting in an effort to state his opinion on the matter.
“The fight broke out on the other side of the office, but all I know is that Pat (DeCourcy) interrupted the meeting,” said Scott Turnberg, chair of Diversity. “I warned him before he could say anything that if he disrupted the meeting again that he would have to leave. That is when Gabe (Tavares) came over and told him that he need to show more respect.”
A witness to the account stated that Tavares told DeCourcy that he was capable of coming over and punching him. He then proceeded to push DeCourcy to the floor, and had to be restrained by two other individuals.
Senator Matt Progen was presenting his motion, a request for flags to be present at every Senate meeting, when the disturbance occurred.
“It was totally unacceptable for them to act the way they did, and they definitely did not act in a mature way,” Progen said.
Speaker Aaron Saunders reacted to the disturbance stating that violence is in no way acceptable within the realms of the SGA. He further explained that he would not let the evening’s actions affect the next Senate meeting.
“Violence and that kind of behavior is unacceptable within the SGA,” Saunders said. “I’ve spoken to Gabe and he apologized to me and he also told me that it was an issue between him and Pat and that it just happened in the SGA.”
The Senate tabled the motion at this past Wednesday’s Senate meeting in an effort to get a second positive recommendation by the Diversity committee. The motion went before the Diversity committee with a unanimously positive recommendation from the Administrative Affairs committee.
“I got a lot of negative vibes by the Senate at the last Senate meeting, and the Chair (Turnberg) seemed to be opposed,” Progen said. “People brought up issues like nationalism over patriotism, but I was confident as to why I was presenting this motion and I was not going to let them tell me why I was there.”
The Diversity committee, with a two to one vote, passed the motion, which allows it to return before the Senate with a positive recommendation from the Diversity and the Administrative Affairs committees.
“I think that Wednesday night’s attendance was pretty indicative as to what is going to happen with this motion,” Progen said. “I think that people will have problems with it, but that it will go over better than the motion that was presented last year.”
Saunders explained that he would not let debate regarding the flag motion get out of hand.
“With Administrative Affairs passing the motion unanimously and Diversity passing the motion it gives the Senate a benchmark to use,” Saunders said. “It’s really an issue that goes to the heart of the constituency and it’s going to come down to each individual senator’s own opinions. One thing is for sure however, nothing like what happened last night will happen at the Senate meeting. I won’t stand for anyone being disruptive or out of line.”
Tavares and DeCourcy were both unavailable for comment at press time.
